The First Timeline.
All For One.
When starting with an equal footing, compared to almost every other Quirk in existence... Save & Load reigned supreme.
For most Quirks, their growth was linear. One For All, New Order, Magical Girl, Time Manipulation, Power Manipulation... give any of those Quirks to a child, and while they might start out as an "exceptionally dangerous individual," none of them would immediately blossom into an S-Class threat. They would all need time and effort— they'd need blood, sweat and tears— to turn into the Titans that each of their users are in the present day.
But All For One? Not all that dangerous, especially in the hands of a child.
Less dangerous than Decay, even.
But if that child were to somehow slip under the radar... if that child were to be born during a time that society itself was falling apart... if that child were to touch just one or two more people with superpowers, in a world where having a superpower— no matter how minor— would eventually become the norm...
Then their danger level would rise drastically.
To that of a Titan.
But when it comes to Save & Load...
The very moment that the Quirk awakens. It doesn't matter if it's in the hands of a child.
It doesn't matter if it's in the hands of your own child.
Because one second, you're just the average, lousy father of a Quirkless four year old— and the very next, your child is now seven years older, has the skills of a government assassin, and has a near-flawless execution of any and all of their movements. And now they're planning your death because of the things you did in timelines that only your child knows. And then you die— not even a week later— in such a perfect way that no one would ever question it.
Good fucking luck facing that.
And All For One? He just happened to be very, very lucky indeed.
He had almost three hundred years to establish a powerbase. Three hundred years to collect, collect, and collect all the Quirks that he could ever need.
And to top it all off?
"HAHAHAHA! What a find!!!" All For One roared with a wide, crazed smile.
"What is it, master?" Kyudai asked, raising an eyebrow. "I haven't seen you so excited since... well, since we found out about Erasure. I'm guessing this is similar?"
"Ah... you have no idea," All For One chuckled, grinning from ear to ear. "This boy has used his Quirk on me, he's used it on you, on the entire world almost 100 times already— if the HPSC's reports are to be believed. And we don't even remember it!"
"What?! How is that possible?!"
"Save and Load, as little Sei-chan calls it... it allows him to save and load points in time."
"Impossible. At the very least, highly improbable. The most likely scenario is that this Sei-chan is a high functioning precog—"
"He can't be, old friend. Because we exist," All For One said softly. "We think, therefore, we are. Isn't that how the saying goes? And if he truly were a high functioning precog... then Seiki Yamazaki would already be on his final load, as it were... which could be the case. Going to the HPSC with the full knowledge of your Quirk is certainly a move, even if it gets you some protection. But no. Because if little Sei-chan is a precog, then he already knows I exist. No... he must be truly rewinding time, and I've caught him right at the start of his journey."
"So you'll take it now?"
"Oh Kyudai, of course I'm going to take it. A Quirk like that? It would make for an absolutely terrible subordinate. But... I'll let the HPSC have him for a bit. Because not only are they keeping such great tabs on him, providing me with more and more details about just how that Quirk of his functions— but they are molding him into a perfect little hero!" he chuckled. "And even if his Quirk is nearly as dangerous as mine... well, he's still just a child."
"I feel like leaving him alone is a mistake."
"Ah, Kyudai... you understand Quirks so very well... but you'll always lack the spiritual knows and tells of Quirks," All For One chided. "Because it'll only take a single thought of Seiki's before I no longer remember attacking him... and even if that weren't the case— if I were to trap him within an encounter— which is very likely something I could do, seeing that the HPSC is already keeping a save log of all things— it could still backfire."
"Backfire how?"
"Well... no matter what, such a thing would result in explosive growth. In his skills, in his age, in his knowledge of how I fight and operate. But even more likely... in his Quirk."
"Ah... you think it'd trigger a Quirk awakening."
"They always happen in times of stress, and he'll be having a very stressful time facing me indeed. Not to mention that the younger the child in question, the more likely, as well as the more explosive, the resulting evolution."
"Then what's your plan of attack?"
"That's simple. Erasure," All For One said. "Once I have that prize, it doesn't matter how explosive Seiki's growth could be. And then I'll rule not just Japan... but the world."
"Ah... we went after him a few times, but backed off for the most part. Mostly because we didn't want to risk killing him..."
"Yes... we'll be going after him a bit harder this time. It's annoying that Erasure affects Life Force— so I cannot risk facing him directly— but he can only survive so many attempts on his life. Because even with such a frighteningly potent Quirk like that, he's still no stronger than your average Quirkless."
"Well, either you get his Quirk, or we get a reanimated corpse with it... and then you'll take it from that. And then the world will be yours."
*
*
*
5 Years Later.
"He got away again..."
"Yes. He did. Heroes can be... surprisingly resilient," All For One grumbled.
Shota Aizawa.
Better known as the Erasure Hero: Eraserhead.
The hero's had over fifty separate attempts on his life... and it shows.
He's covered in scars. He's missing three of his fingers. He's missing six of his toes— or rather, eight of his toes, having lost his left leg just below the knee. Not to mention the permanent damage to both of his lungs, his stomach and his throat...
And while you'd think that that would make him an easy target...
He's all the more dangerous.
All because the Hero Public Safety Commission have picked up on the fact that there is someone trying to put an end to Shota's life, in any way, shape or form... so they decided to give the hero much, much more leeway in how he operates. Guns, knives, poisons... as long as it wouldn't result in an international dispute, Eraserhead is perfectly free to use it.
All things that Shota Aizawa wouldn't have used in the past... but now, anyone who even tries to ambush the Erasure Hero will be dealt with in a permanent fashion.
And after the attempt on his life in his very own apartment, he now lives on Yuuei campus. Permanently.
But he still ventures out in the night, hunting down any villains unlucky enough to cross his eyes.
'A most resilient hero indeed.'
"And Seiki Yamazaki is turning into less and less of a hero, and more of a state-sponsored assassin..." Kyudai said.
And while that was a very real concern... "A brainwashed child soldier is a much better opponent than a free thinking individual," All For One replied. Something that he truly believed. Not to mention that the Hero Public Safety Commission— or the Japanese government, for that matter— was always going to be his enemy. So when Seiki and them were one in the same... well, he didn't feel too pressured to go after Save & Load right away.
Especially after acquiring his latest meta Quirk, Forcible Quirk Activation, which will just make their eventually interaction go all the more smoothly.
But to make it go perfectly, he'll need Erasure first.
And while All For One was slowly growing more and more impatient... he's an old soul.
'I still have time.' Or so he thinks.
But just a few weeks later... he loses nearly everything.
Not to the elusive Shota Aizawa...
Not to the growing Seiki Yamazaki...
But to Toshinori Yagi.
*
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*
18 Months Later.
"Ha... I'm g-getting restless, Kyudai. Even if I w-were to take Erasure, I wouldn't be able to use it. N-Not like this. Not like thissssss..." he trailed off. Tired. Defeated.
Hooked up to a dozen different machines just to stay alive.
Only alive because his trusted friend had brought him back from the dead... all thanks to a Quirk. A Quirk that now keeps him, not healthy, but in the state he was when he acquired it. Constantly keeping him from deteriorating even further.
If only they had found Super Regeneration just a year earlier...
"Don't worry, old friend. With Super Regeneration, Erasure will surely be even less potent. We'll think of something..."
All For One grunted. "Yes... o-once we have a few clones of it— let's send one of them his way. See h-how Erasure affects it."
"T-The Nomu Project? You want to start fielding testing them?"
And then, in the span of 2 minutes, 40 seconds.
Narumi Yamazaki breaks.
Seiki Yamazaki, who's slowly began to think for himself— all thanks to the false time he's been spending more and more time living— finally decides that maybe, maybe the hero life isn't for him. And then he reveals the existence of his hard-save to his mom, something that results in his immediate execution... or at least, it would've, if not for Save & Load being more broken than even Seiki himself believed.
Turning his mutual trust of the HPSC... into hatred and betrayal. Something the HPSC will never remember, that Seiki Yamazaki will never forget.
And with the current timeline completely uninhabitable, the boy decides to go back to the very start.
And now the board will be reset.
All For One will not know of Save & Load. Save & Load will not know of All For One.
And not only does All For One not even have the time to know it... now he's starting to lose ground, and he'll only continue to lose ground, all without his knowledge.
"Yes. R-Right away, Kyudai," All For One rasped. "I feel like... we're r-running out of time..."
And it was almost like the world itself was listening in, just for it to say...
"Yes. Yes, you are."
LOADH.
*
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*
The Second Timeline.
All For One knows of Atlas— he's heard of the boy, but just in a vague sense. He's the brat that Deathclaw and Firestarter follow everywhere... but he never looked further than that. Because the thing that interests him aren't people, but their Quirks. And the best Quirks, in his mind, were the ones that people boasted about.
A sentiment that is shared by many, especially in the era of Quirks.
And not only does All For One already have dozens of mutant Quirks all subtly improving his physique, he really doesn't need another fire Quirk.
But All For One has looked into Atlas. A couple of times, in fact.
Not that he ever remembers it.
Whenever Atlas "fights," he reveals his status as a precog, and then he routinely destroys his opponents.
And every time, it is a flawless victory.
One that All For One can't help but watch.
A Quirk that he can't help but want.
But not only are these glimpses of victory brief, they aren't even complete. Because he's already working off of false information. False information that—
LOAD2.
That he'll never truly know.
*
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*
A Few Months Later.
"Oh? A distress call? Let's see..." All For One hums, looking into Number Six.
Seeing what Six sees, hearing what Six hears, smelling what Six smells. A habit that he's picked up after losing half of his senses himself.
And so he watches as Number Six, his prized possession, is thoroughly dismantled, by an elite team of five vigilantes... vigilantes that he's never even heard of.
A hidden telekinetic, limited to rectangular-slips. A fire generator. A bug spawner and controller.
A wolf mutant.
And most importantly...
"What a fascinating Quirk you have," the boy muttered. "At it's core, your Quirk is super-speed, but you can focus it into regeneration... or even self-destruction. Blowing up your hands inside of others is certainly a creative use of your power. Strong enough to make you a top ten Pro... and wow, what a hero you already are. The High-Speed Hero: O'Clock II."
"An analysis Quirk..." All For One rasped.
"And while poison doesn't really work that well on you... brown recluses, their venom tears apart cell walls. It's less like poison, and more like an acid that slowly melts through your flesh... resulting in a constant stream of injuries that your regeneration needs to focus on first," the boy... no, Atlas explained.
All For One thought that wolf mutant looked familiar.
The fire girl, Firelord's daughter, was rather memorable as well.
"Such a neat Quirk, isn't it? With a single glance, I can pick your Quirk apart. See every weakness, every exploit... and then I strike. Dismantling you in seconds. But when it comes to extracting traditional information, like your backers, I have to result to more... unsavory methods."
"And it sounds just as good as Ragdoll's... if not better."
His next action was obvious.
"Well... one can never have too many fire Quirks..." he muttered, activating Radio Waves. Just a few moments later, a burst of purple mist appeared by his side.
"Yes, master?"
"I'm going to use a Quirk on you," All For One rasped, already standing up. Placing his hand on Kurogiri's shoulder.
He'd start with the boy.
"Stand still."
FORCED QUIRK ACTIVATION!
Kurogiri tensed slightly, his Quirk already suffering from overuse. A side effect of FQA... since it offsets all of its own overuse onto the target.
And then mist appears right in front of him, leading to just behind Atlas's head.
This is it.
Despite all of his failures, despite all of his setbacks, All For One still has a single chance, a single chance to take the entire world into the palm of his hand.
A chance that would be decided with a single Quirk activation.
LOADH.
LOAD2.
A chance lost before he can even remember losing it... because Atlas somehow dodges, bolting forwards only to turn around and face him.
Only to immediately surrender.
"We s-surrender! P-Please don't kill us!"
All For One paused... only to let out a long, dry chuckle.
"And to think that I was going to take you seriously," he mused.
He steps out into the alleyway.
Kurogiri already vanishing Number Six to safety.
"A group of vigilantes that I know absolutely nothing about, picking apart O'Clock II so efficiently that I was actually impressed... but I guess that's just the nature of your Quirk, hmm? You saw a way to beat him, but not me, is that it?"
"W-What... what the fuck is your Quirk," Atlas whispered. Afraid.
Because of course.
"Huhuhu, I wonder just what I look like through the lense of your Quirk... Atlas." the boy somehow stiffened even further. "Oh yes, I recognize you. While your recruits– Deathclaw and Firestarter— are far more familiar to me, I at least know of you. I just never bothered to look into you specifically... a mistake on my part. But have you truly not heard of me?"
He paused, for dramatic effect.
"They still tell bedtime stories... something along the lines of 'don't lord your power over others, or you'll lose them in the night?'" And while he was waiting for the boy to realize just who he was, to realize just who he had managed to stumble across... All For One received an answer he could've never expected.
"The power to destroy Quirks with just a touch, taking a copy of them for yourself," Atlas stated, wonder clear in his voice.
All For One froze.
The boy... according to his own Quirks... was not lying.
He twitched.
'But that cannot be.'
His Quirk let him take the Quirks of others. He... he did not create copies. He could steal the stockpile within Quirks, so surely... but what if. What if those weren't stockpiles at all? What if every time he transferred a Quirk, his Quirk destroyed it... using the "essence" left behind to forge something new?
So when he finally reclaims One For All...
When he reclaims Yoichi...
"...No, no no no no," he disagreed. "Your Quirk is wrong."
His fingers twitched wildly.
"WRONG."
FLASH!
FORCED QUIRK ACTIVATION!
And All For One was right.
"YOU LIE!!!"
The boy's Quirk was NOT an analysis Quirk, but something else entirely.
Forcible Quirk Activation. Not only did it interact with other Quirks— including his original— in fascinating ways, but with just a touch, he not only understood exactly what someone's Quirk was... but he could taste it. Letting him taste-test Quirks in the same way that his base Quirk would, before actually pulling them into himself.
It was almost like the Quirk was tailor made for him specifically.
And Atlas's Quirk...
-The power to save and load points in time.-
What a delicious Quirk it was.
All For One immediately activated it.
He immediately pushed all of his strength into the Quirk. Desperately trying to force the boy into Quirk exhaustion as quickly as possible. Spamming saves 1, 2, 3, and 4, over and over... because those weren't the only functions to Atlas's Quirk. No... Atlas had loads 1-4... and he also had loads H and S.
LOADH. He felt Atlas activate it. He felt Atlas escape nearly a decade into the past.
LOAD3. Only for no time to pass before it activated again.
There was nothing he could do to stop the boy from using his Quirk.
FQA was not capable of nullification.
And he could not take it. He had activated Atlas's Quirk at a distance, through Metal Rivets. To use his base Quirk, All For One, he had to be physically touching the boy with one of his hands.
Something that... that he wasn't able to do.
Not with the time he had.
He could taste as Atlas continued to come back to his present. As Atlas realizes that All For One has overridden his hot-saves, but not his soft-save or hard-save.
Something that FQA cannot do.
For the first time in years... All For One... was afraid.
And he wouldn't even exist to remember it.
LOADH.
LOADS.
*
And now... All For One will not know of Save & Load... while Save & Load knows of All For One.
The board has been flipped.
And while All For One's Quirk might grant him access to immeasurable power...
He now finds himself up against infinite time.
*
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