Izuku stood on the rubble of the city, or what was left of it. Helping rebuild was one of the
jobs the heroes had taken on to speed up the recovery, to get people back into their homes.
But since he was still recovering, he had been told to just watch from a distance and leave the
work to others.
He was in a very dark place, contrary to what everyone thought. Contrary to the public's
belief that this was a victory, the best possible outcome.
He didn't see it that way. To him, this was a failure. His failure. The heroes who died, and the
villains too—neither side deserved that ending. They had all been pawns who made bad
decisions in a conflict that was less a war and more a game orchestrated by that monster.
Anger bubbled from deep within him at the thought of that man... All For One. He had used
everyone to create a world where he could rule and do whatever he wanted. Even after living
for so many years, he had never changed his mindset. He was evil incarnate, and his end had
been as pathetic as one would expect, clinging to someone else like the parasite he was.
A hand settled on his shoulder, making him look back.
"Stop showing that kind of face. You're the hero here."
It was Kacchan. Izuku's mind grew calmer.
"Sorry," Izuku mumbled.
"Don't be. I get mad too when I look at the destroyed buildings," Bakugo said, his tone
uncharacteristically calm.
"Do you really believe this was a victory for us?" Izuku asked.
"No. We barely survived. This is what survival means. Some people make it; some
don't," Bakugo replied.
"..." Izuku fell silent.
"I know what you're thinking, and the answer is no. You wouldn't have been able to
save him. He was corrupted by that demon. There was no way to save him," Bakugo
stated.
"No, it's not just about Shigaraki. Heroes and villains both lost their lives in this war. I
just... I keep thinking if I had one more chance to stop every plan that monster made."
Izuku clutched his hand into a fist.
"You know that's impossible. After all, I killed him with my own hands, and even then I
didn't feel a thing. He was nothing. Just a parasite. Nothing more," Bakugo said, his
voice flat.
"....." Izuku had no response.
"Anyway, it's getting late. You should head back home." With those final words, Bakugo
walked away.
---
Walking through the park near his home—now mostly destroyed—Izuku lost himself in a
mix of good memories and bad. His reminiscing was cut short by a hooded man walking
straight towards him.
"Is that Deku? The greatest hero who saved us all? I'm a big fan of yours."
"Is that so?" Izuku asked, his voice low. "Then why hide your face and carry a knife?"
In an instant, he was behind the man. Even injured, with only an ember of One For All
remaining, he was still strong enough to stop any no-name villain.
"Please, stop! It was just a test!" the man pleaded, cold sweat running down his spine. He
had never been in a fight his whole life and wasn't about to start with All Might's successor.
"Even while you're recovering, you're still the... force I heard about. I'm here to help
you."
"Help me?" Izuku plucked the knife from the man's back and broke it in half with a sharp
crack. "Why do you think I need your help?" His bad mood was quickly turning to anger.
"Really, I'm not joking! I have a very special Quirk. Not just special—I'm sure there's
nothing like it! Just hear me out!" The man's mind raced. Is this really the right option?
No. There is no other option.
"Fine. Tell me. But keep it short." Izuku took a step back, giving the man space to breathe.
"I'm a time traveler."
Silence. You could have heard a cricket chirp.
"Sure, buddy." Izuku sighed, turning to leave. "No, it's not your fault. I'm the idiot who
listened to you."
"I'm telling the truth! When I first got this power, I used it to turn back time on certain
objects. Like this destroyed child swing." The man placed his hands on the rubble. Before
Izuku's eyes, the swing reassembled itself, reverting to the pristine state it had been in when
he was a child.
"This is impossible," Izuku breathed, stepping forward to touch the swing, confirming it
was solid and real. "How? Nobody knows about a Quirk like this."
"I didn't say it was just for objects. I can use it on myself, too, to send myself to any
point in time." The man's voice grew heavy. "And to answer your question, I did tell
people about my Quirk before. It always ended the same way—with them trying to use
me. So I just go back to the moment before I told them and just... disappeared. I even
left my parents behind to make sure they'd never be dragged into my problems."
"But why are you telling me all this?" Izuku asked.
"Because they died in this war! Killed by this madness!" The man began to cry, his hood
trembling. Even without seeing his face, the anguish in his voice was palpable.
".....I'm sorry for your loss," Izuku said, lowering his head. "If I had been a little faster in
ending this war—"
"I don't need your apology or your regret! I need you to fix this! Stop them before they
even think about becoming villains! Kill him before he starts his plans!"
"Do you mean you can send me back?" Izuku's mind was reeling. "But there has to be a
price. There's no way to send someone to the past without a cost."
The man grabbed Izuku's shoulders, his grip desperate. "That doesn't matter! Can you stop
him? Can you stop All For One from destroying this country? Yes or No?"
"...Yes." Izuku's eyes hardened, his gaze turning cold and resolute. "If I had one more
chance, All For One would die by my hands."
"That's all I needed to hear. I'll give you as much time as possible to plan." A white light
began to envelop their surroundings. As it brightened, the man's face became visible—a
young man in his twenties. But something was wrong; he was aging rapidly, his skin
wrinkling and his hair turning white.
"When I got this Quirk, I thought it was a curse," the now-old man whispered, a serene
smile on his weathered face. "It made me isolated. It made me leave my parents and
everything, just so no one knew. But now it's clear. This power was put on this earth so
we could have a second chance. So please... save everyone."
"I will." They were the last words Izuku could offer to this man who was sacrificing
everything—a sacrifice no one would ever know.
A brilliant light consumed the entire park. The next thing he knew, Izuku was in the same
park, but he was staring up from a four-year-old's body, watching a young Bakugo looming
over him for protecting another kid.
He had really come back.