….
It was–
Tenko Shimura.
…and the boy was curled tightly into a ball, his knees pulled up to his chest, drowning in the crushing weight of his past actions.
Surrounding him, grotesque, phantom hands reached out from the dark, pressing against his frail body, burying him under years of absolute despair.
The towering, shadowy presence of All For One's will loomed above, a dark fog whispering that he was nothing more than decay, nothing more than a tool made to break the world.
As Midoriya stepped closer, a deep, agonizing ache flooded into his own chest.
In this space, there were no secrets.
Midoriya could feel the full weight of the boy's story:
The desperate longing to be a Hero, the strict, abusive walls of his father's house, the horror of that blood-soaked night, and the terrifying, lonely days on the street where no one reached out a hand until the devil took him in.
He felt a wave of profound sorrow beneath a fierce anger, not directed at the boy but at the sheer cruelty of what had been done to him.
He didn't stop, walking straight through the dark water while ignoring the shadowy miasma brushing against his skin.
Reaching the child, Midoriya dropped down onto his knees and pulled Tenko into a strong hug.
Tenko stiffened as he slowly lifted his head, his hollow, red-rimmed eyes fixed blankly on Midoriya, unable to comprehend warmth in a realm built on ruin.
"You wanted to become a hero, right?" Midoriya spoke, his voice trembling with emotion, yet grounded by the blunt reality he had learned from his teacher–
"Someone like All Might... someone who could save people with a smile."
Tenko's breath hitched, but he said nothing.
"I wanted the exact same thing." Midoriya continued softly, his grip tightening around the trembling child. "And... so did Dabi-sensei."
A faint ripple echoed through the dark water.
"We all started with the same dream when we were kids." Midoriya said, looking straight into the child's vacant eyes. "But we ended up on completely different paths because of the hand we were dealt. In a way... the three of us are just what happens when things go good, bad, and worse."
Midoriya swallowed hard, unwilling to compare himself to Tenko because, deep down, he believed he had simply been lucky to have a mother who loved him, All Might who believed in him, and a teacher who had torn through hell just to keep him standing.
"I had it good."
Midoriya admitted, his voice rough–
"Dabi-sensei got the bad path. His own family broke him, discarded him, and left him to claw his way back from death just to survive. And you... you got the worst of it. You were given a curse you never asked for and raised by the very monster who destroyed your family."
Midoriya looked at the boy, his expression hardening with an uncompromising resolve that carried Dabi's direct, no-nonsense edge.
"The circumstances broke us, changed our goals, and pushed us into the roles we have right now." Midoriya said firmly. "But despite all of that... we still wanted to change the world. And so do you."
Tenko's small hands twitched against Midoriya's shirt.
"You want to destroy this world so nobody has to suffer the hypocrisy you faced." Midoriya pressed on, his voice ringing through the void–
"Dabi-sensei doesn't give a damn about saving the whole world, but he protects the people he cares about with everything he has. And I want to change it too, by protecting everyone I can reach."
Midoriya pulled back slightly, gripping Tenko's small shoulders and forcing the boy to look at him.
"So stop giving up!" Midoriya shouted, a mix of desperate pleading and scolding in his tone. "Things went horribly wrong, yes! You were lied to, groomed, and broken! But that isn't an excuse to sit here, cry, and let that parasite steal your will!"
Tenko blinked, a tremor passing through his small frame.
"Stop sitting in the dark waiting for someone else to end it!" Midoriya urged. "Stand up, take your stance, and fight for your own goal, whatever that goal may be, even if all you want is destruction!"
It sounded utterly insane.
An aspiring hero tells a villain to embrace his ruin, but Midoriya's eyes burn with absolute sincerity.
"So what if you couldn't become a Hero?!" Midoriya challenged, his voice cracking with emotion. "What if the path you wanted was stolen from you?! If you still want to tear down this society so people like you aren't cast aside, then come and do it with your own hands!
"Be the destruction you choose to bring into this world, not some disposable puppet letting a demon control you till the end!"
Midoriya wasn't validating the horror Shigaraki had caused, nor was he promising to step aside.
He was telling the boy to reclaim his own heart.
"However, do note that, I won't let you do any of it." Midoriya declared, his voice dropping into a promise–
"The second you stand up, I will be right in front of you to stop you. And more than that... I know for a fact Dabi-sensei will beat you into the dirt before you can lay a finger on anyone….
"But if you're going to fight us, then fight as Tenko Shimura, not as that monster's slave!"
"....." Tenko stared at him in stunned silence.
The hollow haze in the child's eyes shattered, the rotting hands slipping from his shoulders and crumbling into harmless gray ash as All For One's towering shadow recoiled beneath the surge of Tenko's reclaimed identity.
Tenko's lower lip quivered.
A massive, hot tear spilled over his scarred cheek.
Then, lunging forward with all the strength in his small body, Tenko buried his face into Midoriya's chest, wrapped his arms around his neck, and began to sob uncontrollably into the light.
In the deep expanse of the vestige void, the phantom hands turned to pale ash and dissolved into the dark water.
Tenko's trembling arms tightened around Midoriya's neck, his ragged sobs shaking the floor; that simple, desperate surrender broke the psychological cage All For One had maintained for over a decade.
CRACK-SHATTER!
In the physical world, the reaction was instantaneous–
Shigaraki's eyes dilated.
His fingers twitched against Dabi's ice clamp, and the crimson electricity arcing off his body reversed its polarity.
"What...?! Impudent brat!!! CEASE THIS REVOLT!"
All For One's phantom presence shrieked inside the boy's skull as the neural link fractured.
The host's body is rejecting him.
Shigaraki's vocal cords tore free from the parasite's grip, unleashing a raw, agonizing scream that belonged entirely to Tenko Shimura:
"GET OUT OF MY BODY!!!"
A blinding pulse of rejected Quirk energy detonated outward from his chest; the metaphysical tether snapped clean in two.
A writhing, shadowy silhouette of All For One's vestige was forcibly ripped from the flesh, shrieking into the freezing night air as it dissolved into harmless embers.
The crimson lightning died, and the decay energy vanished completely.
Tomura Shigaraki's body went entirely limp against the frozen land, his breathing shallow, ragged, but distinctly his own.
He was unconscious, the parasitic possession completely eradicated.
Dabi slowly released the ice vice, letting his arms drop as the draconic scales along his skin began to recede into his normal, healed complexion.
He exhaled a long plume of lukewarm steam, his slit-pupiled eyes returning to their sharp turquoise hue.
Midoriya drifted down until his boots settled softly on the frost, his chest heaving as the golden glow of [Float] faded around his shoulders.
Dabi turned his head slightly, casting an exhausted glance at his panting student.
"The suicidal brat actually pulled off the two percent."
He muttered, a faint smirk pulling at the corner of his lips.
….
Across the wide expanse of Kamino Ward, the silence was deafening.
Down at the outer police barricade, the squad captain slowly lowered his megaphone, his hands shaking as the massive wall of ice began to steam under the morning light.
Beside him, dozens of armed officers lowered their riot shields, blinking up at the sky in dazed disbelief.
Just beyond the breach, the rest of Class 1-A stood assembled:
Iida, Kirishima, and Tokoyami were catching their breath, Dark Shadow shrinking back into Tokoyami's cloak.
Todoroki and Yaoyorozu stood beside the remains of the carbon launcher, Shoto's right hand still smoking with faint frost as he monitored the stabilization of the glacier ramp.
Bakugo stood a few paces ahead of the pack, his hands smoking. His chest heaved with heavy breaths as he glared up at the edge of the crater where Midoriya had landed.
"Tsk…"
He clicked his tongue sharply, looking away with a scowl, but the tension in his shoulders finally dropped.
Uraraka and Mina leaned against the rig, letting out simultaneous, trembling sighs of absolute relief.
In the skies above, news choppers circled cautiously, their high-powered cameras capturing the battlefield and the two figures standing beside the defeated villain.
.
….
[To be continued…]
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Author Note:
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-->[email protected]/WrightBrothers
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A Small Recommendation
Hey everyone!
I wanted to take a moment to recommend another MHA fanfiction to you guys.
My friend OrgoWriters has recently released:
🔥 MHA: I Became Endeavor, Now I'll Fix Everything
If you're an MHA fan, I'd definitely recommend giving it a try. It's a different take on Endeavor, with a redemption-focused story and some interesting ideas about how things could have turned out differently.
I've seen some of what he's planning for the story, and honestly, I'm looking forward to seeing where he takes it. 😂
So if you're looking for another MHA fic to read, go give it a shot and show him some support!
And yes, before anyone asks — I'm still here working on MHA: Blue Sun. 😂
— WrightBrothers