Reset and Rewind

Chapter 13 - Overwhelming Concern

Izuku felt like he was dreaming. This had to be a dream, right? Why else would he be lying here, in a field full of flowers under the sun? Kacchan was sitting by his side, a scar riding up from his neck to his jaw. Izuku remembered that fight all too well... He sighed, closing his eyes. This was his first real date with Kacchan, where they'd gone hiking over the summer and picnicked in the sun. It'd been a perfect day, a perfect date too. It was the moment Izuku realized that he might've been in love all this time, and he never even noticed.

"Hey Deku, time to get up."

He frowned, slowly opening his eyes, only to come face to face with Nana Shimura, the seventh holder of One For All, and not Kacchan. Izuku wasn't lying in a field anymore, instead there was a vast white emptiness surrounding them. So he really was dreaming, he already figured out that much. But why was he dreaming of One For All? It was too early for him to get in touch with his quirk like this.

"Sorry we left you hanging for a while there," she smiled, tilting her head. "Come on, it's time to go. He really wants to see you before you wake up."

Before Izuku could ask any questions, the world spun around him, forcing him on his feet and giving him serious whiplash. Instead of white, his surroundings were now darker, a shade of gray, with mist hanging above the ground. Nana was gone, and instead there was Yoichi, the first holder, All For One's little brother, yet he wasn't facing him.

"One For All is a quirk of the mind, do you know that?" Yoichi asked, not turning around to face him. "All of our spirits are connected, our thoughts, our determination, our morals... Our memories."

He turned around after that and Izuku already had some idea where this was going.

"We were surprised to find you already knew us before we met you," Yoichi said. "To have memories that are your own, yet not at all... It's strange, to say the least, but not why I summoned you here today."

"Then why did you?" Izuku asked, surprised he could actually talk. The first few times his subconsciousness had been captured within One For All, he was barely able to move, let alone talk.

"The dart you were hit with, it messed with our quirk factor," Yoichi frowned, looking down at his hand. "My quirk factor, to be more precise... It'll likely never be the same again."

"What does that mean?" Izuku asked, scared of the implications. If One For All's quirk factor became unstable, the whole quirk could fall apart! It could mean the end of OFA and all the vestiges linked to it!

"It means you're stuck with us," Yoichi smiled. "I hope you don't mind that we took our time to analyze the situation. It left you stranded without our assistance for a while, but I promise we'll never leave your side again."

"Stuck with-" Izuku muttered, his eyes widening when he realized what Yoichi was trying to say, only to have his surroundings fade to black, feeling returning to his body. Izuku was waking up again, even if he didn't want to. He groaned when the pain and stiffness of his body returned and he blinked awake, being greeted by a familiar shade of white. He really hated hospitals.

"Welcome back to the world of the living."

Izuku frowned, seeing Shoto hang over the railing of his bed, looking down on him. He wasn't wearing a hospital gown, but Izuku was sure he'd gotten injured, too. Instead, he was wearing his UA uniform, a bandage on his cheek and no further evidence of their fight with the Hero Killer.

"You were out for quite a while," he added, as if that would explain everything. "They gave you a private room this time around, which is nice."

Izuku slowly sat up, seeing that Shoto was right, he did have a private room. The previous time all three of them had just been thrown together in some kind of medical ward since they weren't staying long and they all knew each other anyway. It was weird he got a private room now... Unless someone specifically asked for it? That or he-